AD Round Up: Stone Houses Part I

Choosing the main material for your house may be quite a problem. Wood? Steel? Or stone? So to finish this week’s Round Up, we bring you previoulsy featured stone houses on ArchDaily.

Pirihueico House / Alejandro Aravena A volcanic site, 4.000 mm of rain every year, strong winds from the north and east, views towards the lake (east) and the forest (west), considerations of the difficulty of bringing materials to this remote place, erasure of any a priori architectural language (be it old or contemporary) were the ingredients of this unknown dish, that should have the capacity to sound familiar once developed. eing the weather condition very extreme, we started taking as less risk as possible; that’s why we began from the double sloped conventional roof (read more…)

Refuge in the Countryside / Juan Herreros Arquitectos The project converts an existing vernacular structure that formerly served as a refuge into a small residence. The approach consisted of replicating the original volume symmetrically to conserve the original conditions and technical function of an apparently innocent construction that was designed intelligently where its orientation, ventilation and water collection facilities, etc. were concerned. A dry-constructed outer wall stimulates an open and voluntary dialogue with the different aspects of the local climate (read more…)

Binimelis House / Polidura + Talhouk Arquitectos The terrain presented three conditions that determined the actions taken that would finally define the project. Because of the lot being of triangular shape located in a corner, the legal edification lines left the constructible area in the center, a steep incline of 40%, and finally, sun exposure and views towards the valley. The operation consists in separating the architecture program into two overlapping volumes parallel to the terrain lines, so when seen in section both volumes relate to the landscape (read more…)

Brione House / Wespi de Meuron The new building is located in a privileged but sprawled urban area above Locarno, with an overwhelming view on the city, the surrounding mountains and the lake. Two simple steaning cubes are emerging from the hill – fragmentarily – more associated to the landscape than to the other existing buildings – more alike a wall than a house – and time less.Habitable interiors are generated through cavities. Two similar big openings, with wooden grids serving as moveable gates, are providing access and view (read more…)

DL House / Camilo Restrepo The house swims through the lot, generating its own space between the trees – without cutting down any. The geometry of the house adapts to the geometry of the space between the trees. The space is generated after a series of variable sections. This sections are configurated on the following incremental rule: If there´s a tree, the roof folds. This way, it generates several living spaces. The materials: “San Buenaventura” black stone and “Pino Patula inmunizado” wood transfer the properties of the surrounding trunks into the material configuration of the house (read more…)